Boycott Against Pepsi-cola Extended

Two local Soviet Jewry organizations which last week called for a boycott against Pepsi-Cola, announced today that they are extending that boycott to the subsidiaries of the Pepsico Corporation. Zev Yaroslavsky, chairman of the California Students for Soviet Jews, and Si Frumkin, chairman of the Southern California Council for Soviet Jews said that “the Pepsico Corporation deals in several products sold on the retail market, and we are going after them as well as the drink itself.”

Yaroslavsky said, “the products we will boycott in addition to Pepsi-Cola are Frito-Lay corn chips, Lay potato chips, Wilson Sporting Goods, and North American Van Lines.” All of those companies are subsidiaries of Pepsico, he stated. “At a time when Jews are being held for virtual ransom in the Soviet Union, it is not too much to ask of an American company to postpone the receipt of substantial profits for the sake of human rights,” Yaroslavsky continued.

The two organizations have opposed any trade agreements with the Soviet Union as long as the USSR does not permit freedom of emigration to its Jewish citizens. When Pepsi announced its deal with the Soviet Union, the two Soviet Jewry organizations responded with a call of boycott.